Time to cull the herd, right?

Two thousand deer are mowing through native plants on Catalina, allowing flammable grasses and shrubs to proliferate, an island conservationist said.

Herbivorous rats, you know, the beautiful white tailed deer of Bambi fame, are hardy and hungry to the max, Living in Fairfield county, yours truly knows what happens when any animal proliferates beyond reason in terms of habitat loss, something now happening on Santa Catalina Island, an environment unique in terms of the native species that have lived there for thousands of years. 

Santa Catalina Island | Date: 2019-03-30 Sensor: MSI on Sentinel-2B Resolution: 

10m RGB Composites: True color, Band 4-3-2 Image

Santa Catalina Island is the crown jewel of the Channel Islands, an archipelago off the coast of Southern California that is so biodiverse it is often called “North America’s Galápagos.”

A rugged mountain jutting out of the sea, Catalina, as it is commonly known, is home to more than 60 plants and critters found nowhere else on earth. Plump quails and miniature foxes unique to the island scurry across the dirt roads that wind through scrubby hillsides. Thick pillows of fog roll onshore and coat the leaves of rare plants with dew. Bald eagles swoop far above the glittering Pacific.

But the habitat is suffering because much of the native flora has been ravaged by animals shipped here over the past century for ranching, hunting and filming movies.

To Lauren Dennhardt, the lead conservationist on the island, there is only one way to save Catalina for future generations: Kill all the deer.

There's a reason why if one does the research.

A rugged mountain jutting out of the sea, Catalina, as it is commonly known, 

is home to more than 60 plants and critters found nowhere else on earth.

But the habitat is suffering because much of the native flora has been ravaged by animals shipped here over the past century for ranching, hunting and filming movies.

The contours of the island were also seen as prime ground for hunting, and 18 mule deer from California forests were introduced nearly a century ago. Now, 2,000 deer are mowing through the native plants here.

That has eroded soil, depleted the food supply for other animals and, most alarming, allowed flammable shrubs and grasses to proliferate, said Dr. Dennhardt, lowering her window while driving to grab a fistful of tumbleweed-like brush growing on a Catalina hillside. These nonnative plants, she said, could create conditions akin to those that fueled the recent catastrophic fire in Maui.

Outrage has ensued over the prospect of gunning down deer from the sky.

Time to cull the herd if you want to save the habitat, right?